Driving the Day

Good Tuesday morning. SPOTTED: MICHAEL FLYNN last night having dinner at Char Bar, the kosher restaurant in Foggy Bottom. Asked what his mood was these days, he replied: “My mood is good. Very good.”

IN PUERTO RICO -- “In Puerto Rico, another desperate plea for help: In the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, concerns deepen that the U.S. territory is too much of an afterthought,” by Jacqueline Klimas in San Juan: “Days after Hurricane Maria barreled through here virtually no people are on the streets and the usually bustling tourist area is littered with curled sheets of metal. Lines of cars waiting to fill up on gas are backed up along the highway off-ramps. ‘We haven’t forgotten about you,’ Adm. Paul Zukunft, the commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard, told a gathering on Monday after what the governor has called the ‘biggest catastrophe’ in the U.S. territory’s history.

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“But the political leadership of Puerto Rico worries that the suffering of its 3.5 million U.S. citizens is once again an afterthought in Washington. ‘We don’t have a voice in the Senate unless it’s Marco Rubio,’ Jenniffer Gonzalez-Colon, Puerto Rico’s single nonvoting member of the House of Representatives, said at an emergency operations center here, where POLITICO accompanied visiting dignitaries before touring the Coast Guard's main base in the region, which suffered extensive damage.” http://politi.co/2fNxKiG

-- @realDonaldTrump at 8:45 p.m.: “Texas & Florida are doing great but Puerto Rico, which was already suffering from broken infrastructure & massive debt, is in deep trouble..” … at 8:50 p.m.: “...It's old electrical grid, which was in terrible shape, was devastated. Much of the Island was destroyed, with billions of dollars....” … at 8:58 p.m.: “...owed to Wall Street and the banks which, sadly, must be dealt with. Food, water and medical are top priorities - and doing well. #FEMA”.

-- @marcorubio: “Returning from #PuertoRico now. Tremendous damage. Potential for serious crisis in areas outside of #SanJuan MUST get power crews in ASAP” … @BenSasse: “The crisis for these Americans needs more attention--and more urgency from the executive branch. The potable water problems are substantial.”

-- HOLDING NOTHING BACK -- STEVE BANNON VS. WASHINGTON, from Alex Isenstadt in Fairhope, Alabama: “In a thundering 20-minute speech Monday night that was partly a rally for insurgent Senate candidate Roy Moore but equally a declaration of war on the Republican Party hierarchy, Bannon made clear that this next act of his political career could make the Republican civil war of recent years look tame.

“‘For Mitch McConnell and Ward Baker and Karl Rove and Steven Law -- all the instruments that tried to destroy Judge Moore and his family -- your day of reckoning is coming,’ Bannon said, referring to the Republican Senate leader and a trio of prominent GOP strategists backing incumbent Sen. Luther Strange. ‘But more important, for the donors who put up the [campaign] money and the corporatists that put up the money, your day of reckoning is coming, too.’ …

“In his fiery us vs. them rhetoric, Bannon name-checked his enemies, repeatedly going after McConnell. ‘Mitch McConnell and his permanent political class is the most corrupt, incompetent group of individuals in this country!’ Bannon said to loud applause. Perhaps sensitive to the perception that he was rebuking the president, the former White House chief strategist insisted that it was Moore, not Strange, would do the most to back the Trump agenda. ‘We did not come here to defy Donald Trump, we came here to praise and honor him,’ he said.” http://politi.co/2fNNAKe

-- THIS ALABAMA experience has not been good for Trump. He got an attorney general he doesn’t much care for in Jeff Sessions, and his candidate -- Luther Strange -- could lose this primary.

-- @FoxNews: “Bannon on anthem protests: They should take a knee...every night & thank God in heaven Donald J. #Trump is President”. http://bit.ly/2ypCjXt

-- WSJ’S REBECCA BALLHAUS (@rebeccaballhaus): “In dinner w/conservative groups tonight, Trump yet again went off on Sessions for recusing himself from Russia probe, per source in the room … ‘You could feel it dripping with venom,’ source said. Trump also suggested Sessions was ineffective, told room to tell him to ‘get moving’”.

THE LATEST ON HEALTH CARE … “GOP already eyeing next chance to revive Obamacare repeal,” by Seung Min Kim, Jen Haberkorn and Burgess Everett: “The supposedly hard deadline at the end of the month to repeal Obamacare might not be so hard after all. With their latest attempt to dismantle the health law on track to fail this week, GOP senators are already raising the prospect of going after it again with the same powerful tools that currently let them pass legislation with just 50 votes.

“There is nothing to suggest Obamacare repeal would get any easier in the coming months and doing so may significantly hobble the Republican majority's other chief legislative priority: tax reform. But facing a floundering repeal push, wrath from the base and a frustrated President Donald Trump, Republicans may have no other choice but to keep pushing to uproot the law.

“‘We’ve got to do both,’ Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) said of tackling both Obamacare repeal and tax reform next year. ‘They’re complicated by necessity. So I don’t think that takes away the complications. But I think we’re supposed to be able to handle complications.’ Hatch added, however: ‘If it's used to screw everything up, I’m not for that.’” http://politi.co/2hvIjad

-- SEN. LINDSAY GRAHAM AT LAST NIGHT’S CNN DEBATE: “‘We’re going to press on,’ Graham said of his and Cassidy’s repeal bill, which appears all but dead amid firm opposition from three Republican senators. ‘It’s okay to vote. It’s okay to fall short.’” http://politi.co/2xyQuKM

-- WHY THIS IS TOUGH: Obamacare repeal isn’t going to get easier. If Republicans include it in the tax reform process, senior aides tell us it could easily sink tax reform, stripping Republicans of another potential legislative achievement going into the 2018 election. HAPPENING THIS AFTERNOON: Senate Republicans will hold their weekly lunch, and will discuss if there’s a path forward on Obamacare repeal. VP Mike Pence will attend.

WE HEAR … BUZZ IN THE BIG SIX -- Aides are beginning to wonder whether Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and NEC Director Gary Cohn have the proxy of the president when it comes to negotiating tax-reform details. Trump really wants a 15 percent corporate rate, which is very, very difficult.

-- @jonathanvswan: “Hill sources have been uneasy about the ‘X factor’ = Trump’s unpredictability & his fixation on what they see as unattainably low corp rate.”

-- WSJ's RICH RUBIN and SIOBHAN HUGHES: "The GOP Tax Plan: Tough Choices With Limited Room to Maneuver: Republicans will likely struggle to squeeze all their priorities into a deal that allows for $1.5 trillion in tax cuts": "Republicans face a daunting challenge as their tax plan comes into sharper focus: They are trying to fit more than $5 trillion of tax cuts inside a $1.5 trillion box. ... In all, the Republicans’ wish list will likely add up to more than $5 trillion worth of tax cuts over a decade, estimates Kyle Pomerleau of the Tax Foundation. Getting it into a budget blueprint that allows for just $1.5 trillion in cuts over 10 years could require paring back ambitions for rate cuts and curtailing long-cherished breaks. It could also mean resisting calls to use the bill to repeal a whole other set of taxes created as part of the 2010 Affordable Care Act." http://on.wsj.com/2wTFTIf

JOSH DAWSEY: “Use of personal devices widespread in Trump’s West Wing”: “Frustrated with West Wing aides’ rampant use of personal communications devices for official business, former chief of staff Reince Priebus tried over the summer to stop – or at least limit – the practice. During a July senior staff meeting, Priebus asked aides to store their personal phones in secure lockers in the White House or either leave them at home during the workday, according to people who attended. The administration subsequently installed additional lockers, typically only found outside secure rooms, in the West Wing, as part of an effort to force aides to use their White House accounts for communications.

“But the request was largely ignored, according to six current and former administration officials, advisers and others who correspond with White House. Aides laughed about Priebus’ request, and senior officials -- including Priebus -- continued to use their personal phones for phone calls, text messages and emails for White House matters. …

“A number of top aides, including Ivanka Trump, the president’s daughter, and Gary Cohn, Trump’s top economic adviser, have also maintained private email accounts where they have occasionally corresponded with other White House officials and Cabinet members. … Former chief strategist Steve Bannon and Priebus have also used personal email accounts to occasionally email about government matters, according to people familiar with their correspondence.” http://politi.co/2hvEzFM

-- “House Republican demands details on Trump aides’ use of private email,” by Kyle Cheney and Rachael Bade: “Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.), chairman of the House oversight committee, along with his Democratic counterpart, Rep. Elijah Cummings of Maryland, called for the Trump White House to disclose by Oct. 9 the names of any top administration officials who use a private email address for government work and to identify any accounts and cell phone numbers that may have been used to transmit encrypted messages.” http://politi.co/2yCZaQf

HAPPENING TODAY -- ROGER STONE ON CAPITOL HILL -- “Chatting With a Very Relaxed Roger Stone, on the Eve of His House Russia Probe Testimony,” by NYMag’s Olivia Nuzzi: Today “he’ll travel to Capitol Hill ... [and] to his 9 a.m. appointment: testifying before the House Intelligence Committee about Russia’s potential influence on the 2016 presidential election (it’s all bulls***, he says). The last time he testified before Congress was in 1973, when, at 19 years-old, he was called before the Senate Watergate Committee. ... ‘No, I don’t get nervous. Never,’ he told me in the lobby of the Trump International Hotel in Washington on the eve of his testimony, though at brief intervals his far-off look appeared to betray those words before he snapped back to his entertaining self. ... One of Stone’s polite lawyers approached to inform he had to get going to his next appointment -- dinner with Tucker Carlson at the Prime Rib.” http://nym.ag/2y5qJ7E

TRUMP’S TUESDAY -- Trump will meet with a bipartisan group from the House Ways and Means Committee and receive a briefing on hurricane recovery efforts. Trump will have lunch with Spanish President Mariano Rajoy and hold a joint press conference with Rajoy. This afternoon, Trump leaves for New York where he will participate in a “U.S. Mission greeting,” meet with RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel and attend a fundraiser at Le Cirque. He will return to Washington after the event.

THE BIG PICTURE -- “Trump, the indecisive: The president speaks boldly about issues like trade, taxes, immigration, health care and climate change. But what exactly will he do?” by Emily Holden, Andrew Restuccia, Aaron Lorenzo and Ted Hesson: “President Donald Trump has threatened to pull out of NAFTA, the Paris climate agreement and the Iranian nuclear deal — unless he opts to stay. He decided to revoke legal protections for the DREAMers, then urged Congress hours later to enact new ones. And he has repeatedly demanded that lawmakers enact major legislation on health care, tax reform and a $1 trillion infrastructure plan — without making it clear what he wants the final product to look like.

“Of all the factors that have made the president’s first year so turbulent, one of the most important has been Trump himself: Combining quick mood shifts, a rancorous White House staff and his own fuzziness on the details, the self-proclaimed dealmaker has left his options way open on a range of contentious decisions — while inducing whiplash in many of the political insiders, business leaders and even foreign governments with a stake in the outcomes. ... ‘Nobody is happy,’ said [one] Republican lobbyist. ‘It’s very likely that at the end of the year, we'll be left with Obamacare and the same tax code.’” http://politi.co/2xIfvFu

BREAKING THIS MORNING -- AP/JERUSALEM: “Palestinian kills 3 Israelis in settlement near Jerusalem”: “Palestinian attacker opened fire early Tuesday at the entrance to a settlement outside Jerusalem, killing three Israeli security men and critically wounding a fourth, Israeli police and medical services said, in one of the deadliest attacks in a two-year spate of violence. Gaza’s Islamic Hamas rulers praised the attack but stopped short of taking responsibility for it. Israeli officials said the attacker was a 37-year-old Palestinian father of four who appeared to have acted alone.” http://bit.ly/2xtcj0F

THE JUICE …

-- FIRST IN PLAYBOOK: DARIN MILLER will take over as communications director for the House Freedom Caucus. He is replacing Alyssa Farah, who is going to work for VP Mike Pence as press secretary.

-- ELENA SCHNEIDER reports “The National Republican Congressional Committee is naming Joe King, an Ohio-based strategist with close ties to NRCC Chairman Steve Stivers, as a senior adviser to the committee — with the expectation that King will later lead the committee’s independent expenditure unit in the 2018 election, according to a source close to the committee.” http://politi.co/2wTyaKc

OBAMA’S LIFE -- “A Piece of Obama’s Post-Presidential Life: Sandwiches and Speeches,” by NYT’s Kate Kelly: “An hour inside Barack Obama’s post-presidential life included boxed sandwiches, scores of money managers and a treatise on health care reform. Those were the main ingredients on Monday when Mr. Obama spoke in Manhattan at a conference on health care sponsored by the brokerage firm Cantor Fitzgerald -- at least his ninth paid speech since leaving office.

“Steel-jawed and wearing a dark suit and an American-flag lapel pin, Mr. Obama was reserved in describing the dogfight over health care in Washington, which threatens to derail his signature legislative accomplishment, the Affordable Care Act. During his 25-minute prepared remarks, Mr. Obama’s laugh lines were few, and his swipes at the Trump administration even fewer. Instead, he undertook a professorial review of what the health care law had accomplished, considered its remaining problems, and swept through some potential solutions. ...

“The speech was Mr. Obama’s third to a financial crowd in the past month -- he also spoke to clients of the money-management firm Northern Trust Corporation and the private-equity firm Carlyle Group -- and gave some indication of how he has been navigating the moneymaking opportunities of his newly private life. Since leaving the White House in January, the former president and his wife have reportedly won a $60 million joint book deal, and his speaking fees -- including to Cantor -- have gone as high as $400,000 per speech. He has also vacationed on an exclusive island and taken up residence in an $8.1 million home.” http://nyti.ms/2wgUo9H

Playbook Reads

PHOTO DU JOUR: U.S. Capitol Police remove a protester in a wheel chair from a Senate Finance Committee hearing about the proposed Graham-Cassidy healthcare bill in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill on Sept. 25. | Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

MARK LEIBOVICH in the NYT Magazine: “Before Trump Brought Politics Into Football, He Made Politics Into Football”: “About two years ago, I began researching a book about the precarious entertainment dynasty of the National Football League, a project that happened to coincide with Trump’s bull rush on the White House. Midway through both, it became clear that Trump had seized on many of the formulas that the N.F.L. has followed to great effect. Trump and the N.F.L. have thrived in recent years by fashioning politics and sports, respectively, as a kind of real-life reality show. ‘You could hire every producer in Hollywood,’ Jerry Jones told me recently, ‘and you couldn’t come up with all the soap operas we have in football during the season and off-season, on the field and off.’ Trump elicits passion pro and con — as, say, the New England Patriots do. The modern N.F.L. might be the American institution whose sensibility best predicted Donald Trump.”http://nyti.ms/2xxYJa1

-- “Cowboys, Cardinals lock arms for national anthem in show of unity,” by ESPN’s Todd Archer and Josh Weinfuss in Glendale, Ariz.: “As the Cardinals were introduced, Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones, and executive vice presidents Stephen Jones, Charlotte Anderson and Jerry Jones Jr., stood locked arm in arm with Dallas’ players, coaches and staff. Before a giant American flag was unfurled that covered almost the entire field, the Cowboys -- including Jerry Jones -- took a knee briefly as a group. This took place before the national anthem, and led to a smattering of boos from the crowd in Arizona that included a large number of Dallas fans.” http://es.pn/2wQIUOq

TRUMP INC. -- “In Ivanka’s China, business ties shrouded in secrecy,” by AP’s Erika Kinetz in Shanghai: “It is no secret that the bulk of Ivanka Trump’s merchandise comes from China. But just which Chinese companies manufacture and export her handbags, shoes and clothes is more secret than ever, an Associated Press investigation has found.

“In the months since she took her White House role, public information about the companies importing Ivanka Trump goods to the U.S. has become harder to find. Information that once routinely appeared in private trade tracking data has vanished, leaving the identities of companies involved in 90 percent of shipments unknown. Even less is known about her manufacturers. Trump’s brand, which is still owned by the first daughter and presidential adviser, declined to disclose the information.” http://bit.ly/2wRgpQH

ANNIE KARNI SCOOP -- THE OPPOSITION -- “Reines quits consulting firm to protest Trump full time”: “Hillary Clinton's longtime gatekeeper Philippe Reines is no longer just a freelancing critic of the Trump administration: he has quit his day job to devote himself full-time to excoriating the president and his top aides. Reines left the consulting firm he co-founded four years ago, Beacon Strategies, on Sept. 5 -- one week before the release of Clinton’s campaign memoir, ‘What Happened’ -- to turn full-time ‘resistance,’ a word he says he hates. ‘It’s stand in front of the tank time,’ Reines, who worked as a top Clinton adviser in the Senate and then the State Department, said in an interview about his decision to leave his firm.” http://politi.co/2fnWk9A

AP -- “Zinke: One-third of Interior employees not loyal to Trump,” by Matt Daly: “Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke said Monday that nearly one-third of employees at his department are not loyal to him and President Donald Trump, adding that he is working to change the department’s regulatory culture to be more business friendly. Zinke, a former Navy SEAL, said he knew when he took over the 70,000-employee department in March that, ‘I got 30 percent of the crew that’s not loyal to the flag.’ In a speech to an oil industry group, Zinke compared Interior to a pirate ship that captures ‘a prized ship at sea and only the captain and the first mate row over’ to finish the mission.” http://bit.ly/2foBTJE

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MEDIAWATCH -- “NBC’s Megyn Kelly experiment unveils its latest creation, a morning-show Bride of Frankenstein,” by WaPo’s Hank Stuever: “‘Megyn Kelly Today’ is meant to be the final, dazzling piece of Kelly’s multimillion-dollar transmogrification from steely Fox News host to a mushy, hugs-for-everybody, midmorning TV host. It premiered Monday on NBC in the 9 a.m. hour of the ‘Today’ show ... The debut was like watching a network try to assemble its own Bride of Frankenstein, using parts of Ellen DeGeneres, Kelly Ripa and whatever else it can find.

“The resultant lovely creature, dressed in a mauve, pussy-bow blouse and skintight pants, moved stiffly and waved her arms around in broad gestures in a bizarre attempt to generate excitement from an audience that was already standing and cheering as duly instructed. She interviewed people nervously and so awkwardly that they were cowed into giving monosyllabic answers. She also never missed an opportunity to talk about herself.” http://wapo.st/2hvVRGJ

-- “‘Fox & Friends’: Behind-the-scenes of ‘the most powerful TV show in America’,” by Business Insider’s Amanda McKelvey: http://read.bi/2xCtnAy

-- WSJ MEMO FROM PAUL BECKETT: “I am delighted to announce that Michael R. Gordon -- a byline that needs no introduction in D.C. -- will be joining the Washington bureau’s national security team, starting in mid-November. Michael was national security correspondent for the New York Times, where he worked for three decades, covering the Pentagon and military affairs. ... I’m also pleased to announce that Julie Bykowicz will be joining the Washington bureau to cover money and politics at the beginning of October. Julie has been covering campaign finance for years, most recently for The Associated Press, and she’s one the most respected experts in this arena.”

-- PER MORNING MEDIA’S MICHAEL CALDERONE: “I’ve heard Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Eric Lichtblau has recently had talks with The Journal, though it’s still unclear whether he'll land at the paper. Lichtblau, a veteran of the New York Times and Los Angeles Times, joined CNN in April. He left the network in June along with two other high-profile two journalists following a retracted article.”

-- NBC NEWS takes a victory lap, running this ad in the New York Times and other places, touting their ratings http://politi.co/2fuPsL9

SPOTTED backstage at Katy Perry’s Verizon Center show last night: Sens. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) and Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and RIAA CEO Cary Sherman ... Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on the 2 p.m. Delta shuttle from New York to DCA, seated in the second row of economy “Comfort Plus.” Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) moved seats to be next to McConnell. Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) was across the aisle.

-- Pool report: “Hundreds flocked to the Wilmington Country Club [Monday] for the Beau Biden Foundation’s big fall fundraiser, with many participating in the sold out golf and tennis tournaments. Vice President Joe Biden and President Barack Obama were both there to celebrate Beau Biden’s commitment to child protection and the work the Foundation does to ensure his dream of a world free from child abuse becomes a reality.” Todd Webster, former chief of staff to Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) and now with Cornerstone Government Affairs, “aced his first Hole in One on a 168 yard hole with a 6 iron,” per a tipster. Video: http://bit.ly/2k0GlDc

WELCOME TO THE WORLD --Greg Smith, a lobbyist at AIPAC, and Janna Weinstein Smith, an AIPAC and AJC alum, welcomed Lonie Emilia Smith, Sunday morning at Sibley, on her exact due date. “All 3 Smiths are happy, healthy, and enjoying every second of the greatest adventure they could imagine.” Pic http://bit.ly/2xyAica

TRANSITION -- Anatole Jenkins has joined the DCCC as the deputy national field director. He was the Minnesota organizing director for HFA and has run programs in Nevada, North Carolina and LA.

BIRTHDAY OF THE DAY: WaPo’s Dave Weigel is 36. How he’s celebrating: “Dinner at Nobu with my girlfriend. She made the reservation -- if it were up to me, I’d remember sometime on September 25 that oh, yeah, it would be good to eat the next day.” Read his Playbook Plus Q&A: http://politi.co/2xGSWRq

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About The Author

Anna Palmer is a senior Washington correspondent for POLITICO and co-author of POLITICO’s Playbook, the most indispensable morning newsletter for the biggest influencers in politics.

Anna covers the world of Congress and politics, and has successfully chronicled the business of Washington insiders for years. Her stories take readers behind the scenes for the biggest fights in Washington as well as the 2016 election.

Prior to becoming POLITICO’s senior Washington correspondent, Anna was the co-author of the daily newsletter, POLITICO Influence, considered a must-read on K Street.

Anna previously covered House leadership and lobbying as a staff writer for Roll Call. She got her start in Washington journalism as a lobbying business reporter for the industry newsletter Influence. She has also worked at Legal Times, where she covered the intersection of money and politics for the legal and lobbying industry, first as a staff writer and then as an editor.

A native of North Dakota, Anna is a graduate of St. Olaf College, where she was executive editor of the weekly campus newspaper, the Manitou Messenger. She lives in Washington, D.C.

About The Author

Jake Sherman is a senior writer for POLITICO and co-author of POLITICO’s Playbook, the most indispensable morning newsletter for the biggest influencers in politics.

Jake is the top congressional reporter on Capitol Hill and has built a career on landing hard-to-get scoops

Since 2009, Jake has chronicled all of the major legislative battles on Capitol Hill, and has also traveled the country to cover the battle for control of Congress.

Jake takes readers inside the rooms where decisions are made. His high-impact reporting resulted in the resignation of Aaron Schock.

Before landing at POLITICO, Jake worked in the Washington bureaus of The Wall Street Journal, Newsweek and the Minneapolis Star Tribune. He also interned on the metro desk of The Journal News (N.Y.) and, during high school, worked on the sports desk of the Stamford Advocate (Conn.).

Jake is a Connecticut native, and a graduate of The George Washington University — where he edited The GW Hatchet — and Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism. Jake lives in Washington with his wife Irene, and listens to an unhealthy amount of Grateful Dead and Phish.

About The Author

Daniel Lippman is a reporter for POLITICO and a co-author of POLITICO's Playbook, the most indispensable morning newsletter for the biggest influencers in politics.

Before joining POLITICO, he was a fellow covering environmental news for E&E Publishing and a reporter for The Wall Street Journal in New York. He has also interned for McClatchy Newspapers and Reuters. During a stint freelancing in 2013, he traveled to the Turkish-Syrian border to cover the impact of the Syrian civil war for The Huffington Post and CNN.com.

He graduated from The Hotchkiss School in 2008 and from The George Washington University in 2012. Daniel hails from the Berkshires in western Massachusetts and enjoys playing tennis, seeing movies and trying out new restaurants in his free time.